Georgina Clark, who has died aged 70, may have gained a reputation as the first woman to umpire a Wimbledon final, but to countless players on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour, she was much more than that.

Charming, approachable but strict, Georgina became known as the tour's Mother Superior, and her ability to deal with all the personal problems and public crises that afflict a tennis player's life was derived, to a large extent, from the fact that she had brought up five children of her own, as well as three of her sister Sheila's, their mother having died young.

She was born Georgina Lawrence in Hong Kong, where her father worked for BP. Educated at Bedford high school, she quickly showed an aptitude for sport, including lacrosse, tennis and badminton. She played in the junior Wimbledon championships and was an All England junior badminton champion.

She married John Clark when she was 18 and, despite having five children within a decade, still managed to make a name for herself as a tennis coach and official.

Her ability to see the funny side of life was stretched one evening at the Royal Albert Hall, London, when she was umpiring matches during the World Championship Tennis doubles tournament. The umpire's chair was a new-fangled affair that was raised to the required height electronically. At the end of one match, the mechanism failed, leaving Georgina perched loftily and very alone, all dressed up in her long, black evening gown, which was the officials' uniform for evening matches at the venue. With the fire brigade on standby, an electrician finally rectified the problem, allowing her to descend amid hearty applause.

She came to public attention in 1981, when she formally warned John McEnroe for his unsportsmanlike behaviour in the Queen's Club final, leading to the accolade "the supermum who tamed the superbrat". By the time she umpired the final between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert at Wimbledon, in 1984, Georgina had already taken on the role of worldwide tour director for the WTA, a post she held until she was afflicted by progressive supranuclear palsy, a degenerative neurological condition, in 2005. It was a job that required detailed technical knowledge of the game's rules, as well as an ability to shepherd young players through the tough, competitive environment of the professional tour.

A young Steffi Graf came to rely on Georgina's kindly support through difficult times, as did so many other stars who needed a shoulder to cry on. Nonetheless, in her no-nonsense accent, which tended to bring Americans to heel, Georgina would not tolerate abuse of the rules or any attempt to circumvent them. Richard Williams, whose presence intimidated some when he made the case for his daughters, Venus and Serena, found her unimpressed by his demands for concessions.

"We've had our moments, but I think Richard and I understand each other," Georgina told me once, with a twinkle in her eye. By the time she was forced to relinquish her post, many of the players not only understood her, but loved her too.

Georgina was separated from John, who survives her, along with the eight children she raised, and 11 grandchildren.